Jim Ross On What Needs to Happen For Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff to Succed in WWE

– During the latest Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross discussed WWE bringing Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff on as Executive Directors of Raw and Smackdown, and what needs to happen so they can succeed. Ross noted that the announcement caught him off-guard but that for WWE to affect any change with it, Vince McMahon needs to let them do their thing.

Highlights and the full podcast are below:

On if the news caught him off-guard: “Yeah, sure did. I’m happy for both guys, they’re both very qualified.”

On what needs to happen for the plan to work: “Here’s the deal about that situation in a nutshell to me. For change to be invoked, and put into play … Vince has got to be willing to sign off on what his two head honchos wanna do. And at some point, the management philosophy’s gotta be, ‘I don’t have to approve everything that these guys do. I might be wise to let them roll with their instincts, knowing that they’re both very competitive, knowing that we have nowhere to go but up in some of these ratings situations. Certainly Smackdown has no momentum to any degree, moving to FOX in not that long off. So there’s a lot of things that need to be done, but why not give them a chance to play their hand? Because here’s the deal. If they don’t succeed, you replace them. As cold as it sounds, that’s the nature of the beast. And there’s all kinds of measurables. Minute-by-minutes, quarter hour [rating]. This week’s show over last week’s, last year’s show at this time, blah blah blah.”

On the uncertainty over how this is going to work: “And what’s gonna happen if Heyman comes to Vince and says ‘I wanna beat Rollins with oh, let’s say Drew Galloway, McIntyre. The big Scotsman. And I wanna make Drew champ.’ Is that gonna be allowed? Is gonna have to be thoroughly discussed? Does it have to go through others in some sort of unnamed committee? Or is this just a way for Vince to not have to talk to all his other writers, and just talk to basically Eric and Paul, and they still gotta get their ideas through him to get it on television?”

On his advice to McMahon: “I’m saying if I were Vince, let ’em have it. Turn it over to them. How bad — they can’t screw it up, or your judgment on talent and hiring talent has gone to hell. They’re both very bright guys, and they both have very substantial egos, and a lot of intellect, and they want to win. Give them a chance to win. And if they don’t win, guess what? You do the same thing they do in the NFL or wherever. Somebody gets another opportunity.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.